1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnesium oil pan and, more particularly, to a magnesium oil pan in which reinforcement members are attached to portions that are weak in strength and are vulnerable to vibration in order to maximize reduction in weight and improve noise-proof performance, thereby preventing noise and vibration.
2. Description of Related Art
An oil pan is a reservoir that encloses a crank case and stores engine oil. The oil pan is detachably mounted on the lower portion of an engine, and is typically made of metal such as aluminum. The oil stored in the oil pan circulates around components of the engine by means of an oil pump, and then returns to the oil pan. At this time, the engine oil absorbs heat from the individual components, thereby cooling the individual components. Further, the engine oil forms an oil film on these components, thereby increasing lubrication between the components and preventing oxidation of the components.
Meanwhile, attempts have recently been made to reduce weight of each part mounted on a motor vehicle in order to fulfill demands for weight reduction and performance enhancement of the motor vehicle. This tendency is applied to the oil pan. To this end, a material of which the oil pan is made is substituted by magnesium, which is a lightweight material, for aluminum, which is an existing material.
Magnesium has an advantage of being lighter than aluminum but a disadvantage of being 2/3 times the strength of aluminum since the elastic modulus of magnesium is 45 GPa while that of aluminum is 75 GPa. As such, if the oil pan is made of magnesium instead of aluminum without a change in design, the oil pan mounted on the lower portion of the engine is subjected to vibration due to direct transmission of vibration from the engine, and thus generating noise. Furthermore, the oil pan is mounted on the lower portion of the engine, and thus is frequently exposed to external impacts. Accordingly, in the case in which the oil pan has weak rigidity, the oil pan is damaged by such external impacts.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.